Texas rallies past Texas Tech in opening round of Big 12 Tournament
Texas shrugged off a disappointing regular season and a double-digit deficit to beat Texas Tech 61-52 in the opening round of the Big 12 Tournament on Wednesday at Sprint Center.
For one night, at least, the No. 10 Longhorns (11-21) looked nothing like the team that tumbled to the bottom of the Big 12 standings this season.
They rallied from 11 down to upset the No. 7 seed Red Raiders, advancing them to the tournament’s quarterfinals and a matchup against No. 2 seed West Virginia at 6 p.m. Thursday.
The come-from-behind victory went down as one of the most satisfying of the season for a team. It was certainly hard to beat the finish.
“In the second half, our guys really made a decision to play aggressive and attack,” Texas coach Shaka Smart said. “It helps when you make some shots, but I am proud of the way our guys hung in there and fought after the way the game started with some adversity.”
This game appeared over midway through the second half. Texas Tech held a 42-31 lead, the arena was sparsely filled and everything pointed to the Red Raiders winning a low-scoring affair.
Then Texas went on a run – a big run.
The Longhorns outscored the Red Raiders 18-2 over the next 6 minutes to not only get back in the game, but take control of it.
“We finally started to jell and click tonight,” Texas guard Andrew Jones said after scoring a game-high 15 points. “We played with more aggressiveness and energy. We wanted to play for each other.”
Kerwin Roach led the Texas (11-21) rally by throwing down a pair of sensational dunks. The first was a driving one-hander that brought the crowd to its feet. The other was an alley-oop that gave his team a 49-44 lead with 4:46 remaining.
“It sparked energy for us,” Roach said after scoring 13 points. “Our bench got into it. I was feeling it from my bench. I just let my hair down after that. I felt real loose.”
Texas Tech tightened up and wasn’t able to regroup.
The Red Raiders (18-14) will now wait to see if they receive an invitation to the NIT or possibly another postseason tournament, but their NCAA Tournament dreams are dashed.
“Give credit to Texas,” Tech forward Matthew Temple said. “They executed in the last 10 minutes and we didn’t. That was the bottom line.”
Kellis Robinett: @KellisRobinett
TEXAS 61, TEXAS TECH 52
TableStyle: SP-bkwideplayersCCI Template: SP-bkwideplayers
Texas | Min | FG-A | FT-A | R | A | F | Pt |
Allen | 34 | 2-9 | 6-6 | 4 | 1 | 3 | 10 |
Cleare | 18 | 1-1 | 0-0 | 2 | 0 | 1 | 2 |
Davis | 15 | 0-3 | 0-0 | 2 | 0 | 1 | 0 |
Jones | 31 | 4-11 | 6-7 | 5 | 4 | 1 | 15 |
Roach | 29 | 4-8 | 3-5 | 4 | 0 | 4 | 13 |
Yancy | 26 | 4-5 | 0-0 | 6 | 0 | 2 | 8 |
Young | 19 | 1-6 | 0-0 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 2 |
Isom | 17 | 2-5 | 1-2 | 2 | 0 | 2 | 7 |
Banks | 10 | 2-2 | 0-0 | 4 | 0 | 2 | 4 |
Totals | 200 | 20-50 | 16-20 | 31 | 5 | 16 | 61 |
Percentages: FG .400, FT .800. 3-Point Goals: 5-23, .217 (Roach 2-4, Isom 2-5, Jones 1-6, Allen 0-1, Davis 0-3, Young 0-4). Team Rebounds: 6. Team Turnovers: 9 (0 PTS). Blocked Shots: 3 (Allen, Banks, Cleare). Turnovers: 9 (Roach 3, Banks 2, Jones 2, Young 2). Steals: 5 (Yancy 2, Cleare, Jones, Roach). Technical Fouls: None.
TableStyle: SP-bkwideplayersCCI Template: SP-bkwideplayers
Texas Tech | Min | FG-A | FT-A | R | A | F | Pt |
Gray | 17 | 1-7 | 0-1 | 4 | 1 | 1 | 2 |
Smith | 31 | 3-10 | 0-0 | 6 | 1 | 4 | 6 |
Temple | 19 | 4-4 | 0-1 | 0 | 1 | 4 | 10 |
Evans | 34 | 5-12 | 0-0 | 4 | 2 | 1 | 11 |
Millinghaus | 12 | 1-3 | 0-0 | 1 | 2 | 1 | 2 |
Stevenson | 27 | 2-7 | 2-2 | 8 | 1 | 5 | 6 |
Ross | 24 | 1-5 | 2-2 | 3 | 1 | 1 | 4 |
Livingston | 20 | 4-10 | 0-0 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 10 |
Thomas | 17 | 0-1 | 1-2 | 4 | 1 | 1 | 1 |
Brandsma | 1 | 0-0 | 0-0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
Totals | 200 | 21-59 | 5-8 | 31 | 11 | 19 | 52 |
Percentages: FG .356, FT .625. 3-Point Goals: 5-19, .263 (Temple 2-2, Livingston 2-5, Evans 1-4, Millinghaus 0-1, Ross 0-2, Smith 0-2, Stevenson 0-3). Team Rebounds: 3. Team Turnovers: 7 (0 PTS). Blocked Shots: 1 (Stevenson). Turnovers: 7 (Evans 2, Livingston, Smith, Stevenson, Temple, Thomas). Steals: 4 (Millinghaus 3, Smith). Technical Fouls: None.
Half: Texas Tech 26-20. Attendance: 18,972.
AP-WF-03-09-17 0429GMT
This story was originally published March 8, 2017 at 10:40 PM with the headline "Texas rallies past Texas Tech in opening round of Big 12 Tournament."